A Laptop Worth Considering: Dell XPS 15 Review

If you're looking for a laptop that can handle your workflow or maybe you're just somebody who wants to play games on their work laptop, if that's you, we really think the XPS 15 is the first laptop you should consider buying. There's not much new here in terms of the design, if you've seen any of Dell's XPS laptops before you know you're getting a premium high-quality build. It's wrapped in aluminum on the top and bottom but has a black, soft-touch carbon fiber on the inside. The design is certainly less cutting-edge than it was back in 2015, but it's still a look we really like.

This laptop can blend into whatever environment you're in whether that's a coffee shop at home on the couch or in the office. There's a whole lot of good stuff to say about this laptop, but most of it is unchanged from last year's model. Has a great port selection offering a wide variety for both USBC and legacy accessories. The keyboard and touchpad are also really high-quality providing a great typing, swiping, tapping, and tracking experience. There's still some of the best inputs you can find on a Windows laptop, and battery life is excellent though you'll get less with the 4k version. Our 1080p model got us over 14 and a half hours and video playback in around 10.

In general productivity, all of that is excellent, in top-of-the-class, and for $1,500 it's a pretty good value too but none of that is new this year what's really new are the upgraded components and performance which really pushed the XPS 15 to a new level of greatness. The XPS 15 has a new 6-core i7 processor from Intel, which is the same one you'll find in a lot of thin-and-light gaming laptops like the Razer Blade. The performance here really is outstanding, in fact, the XPS 15 set our record for laptops encoding a four-minute 4K movie trailer in just two and a half minutes.

Even though the XPS 15 is by no means a dedicated gaming laptop it just might be the best stealth gaming machine you can buy. Dell has upgraded the GPU from a 1050 to a 1050 Ti this year, and the performance upgrade you get from that really turns it into quite capable little gaming laptop. Everything from Fortnite to Battlefield One plays at smooth 50 to 60 frames per second with settings maxed out even tougher stuff like Dave's Ex is playable though you'll need to adjust the graphics settings a bit.

Now it's definitely true that you will see some throttling with the XPS 15, you're not gonna see quite as good a performance as you would in something with a thicker chassis. That's really true of pretty much all thin-and-light laptops like this one whether you're talking about the MacBook Pro or the Surface Book. The XPS 15 isn't made solely for raw power it's a balance between performance, design, and portability, and it's a balanced laptop that handles really well.

However, we do have two small complaints about the XPS 15, and the first is the placement of the webcam which is always going to be a gripe that people have with the XPS laptops. It has been moved to the center at this time, which helps but there's no getting around the fact that the placement below the screen is going to deter some people that rely on the webcam for frequent video conferencing.

Secondly, in our testing, we saw slow write speeds for the Toshiba and vme SSD that's included on the XPS 15, and that really shouldn't be happening. It's been a problem reported with this specific SSD and other laptops as well so we're hoping it's something that Dell, Microsoft, and Toshiba can figure out because right now, it's write speeds are as slow as an old spinning disk drive.

You can configure the XPS 15 up to the touchscreen 4K model for an extra $400 which photographers and videographers would probably want for the added color accuracy resolution, and color gamut. Our review unit which started at $1,500 came with a 256GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and a 1080p display, and I really think this is a good place to start for most people especially with the added benefit of the extra battery life you get either way what you're getting is a high-performance laptop that we really think is at the top of its class, and really is the best 15-inch laptop that you can buy.

Hey thanks for watching this review. Tell me what you think in the comments below about the XPS 15 are you interested in it? You're gonna pick it up through the next laptop and if you like this review go ahead and subscribe and check out one of the videos over here, and if you want to read the full review head on over to our website.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennot everybody needs a laptop like the XPS 15 not everybody needs the six core processor the big 15-inch display or the discreet graphics card but maybe you're a video editor or maybe you're a programmer or a music producer and you need a laptop that can handle your workflow or maybe you're just somebody who wants to play games on their work laptop if that's you we really think the XPS 15 is the first laptop you should consider buying there's not much new here in terms of the design if you've seen any of Dells XPS laptops before you know you're getting a premium high quality build it's wrapped in aluminum on the top and bottom but has a black a soft touch carbon fiber on the inside the design is certainly less cutting edge than it was back in 2015 but it's still a look we really like and really this is a laptop that can blend into whatever environment you're in whether that's a coffee shop at home on the couch or in the office there's a whole lot of good stuff to say about this laptop but most of it is unchanged from last year's model has a great port selection offering a wide variety for both USBC and legacy accessories the keyboard and touchpad are also really high-quality providing a great typing swiping tapping and tracking experience there's still some of the best inputs you can find on a Windows laptop and battery life is excellent though you'll get less with the 4k version our 1080p model got us over 14 and a half hours and video playback in around 10 in general productivity all of that is excellent in top of the class and for $1,500 it's a pretty good value too but none of that is new this year what's really new are the upgraded components and performance which really pushed the XPS 15 to a new level of greatness the XPS 15 has a new 6 core core i7 processor from Intel which is the same one you'll find in a lot of thin and light gaming laptops like the Razer Blade and the performance here really is outstanding in fact the XPS 15 set our record for laptops encoding a four minute 4k movie trailer in just two and a half minutes and even though the XPS 15 is by no means a dedicated gaming laptop it just might be the best stealth gaming machine you can buy Dell has upgraded the GPU from a 1050 to a 1050 Ti this year and the performance upgrade you get from that really turns it into quite capable little gaming laptop everything from fortnight to Battlefield one play at a smooth fifty to sixty frames per second with settings maxed out even tougher stuff like Dave's ex are playable though you'll need to adjust the graphics settings a bit now it's definitely true that you will see some throttling with the XPS 15 you're not gonna see quite as good a performance as you would in something with a thicker chassis but that's really true of pretty much all thin and light laptops like this one whether you're talking about the MacBook Pro or the surface book - the XPS 15 isn't made solely for raw power it's a balance between performance design and portability and it's a balanced Dell handles really well we do however have two small complaints about the XPS 15 and the first is the placement of the webcam which is always going to be a gripe that people have with the XPS laptops it has been moved to the center at this time which helps but there's no getting around the fact that the placement below the screen is going to deter some people that rely on the webcam for a frequent video conferencing secondly in our testing we saw someone usually slow write speeds for the Toshiba and vme SSD that's included on the XPS 15 and that really shouldn't be happening it's been a problem reported with this specific SSD and other laptops as well so we're hoping it's something that Dell Microsoft and Toshiba can figure out because right now it's write speeds are as slow as an old spinning disk drive you can configure the XPS 15 up to the touch screen 4k model for an extra $400 which photographers and videographers would probably want for the added color accuracy resolution and color gamut however our review unit which started at $1500 came with a 256 gigabyte SSD 16 gigabytes of RAM and a 1080p display and I really think this is a good place to start for most people especially with the added benefit of the extra battery life you get either way whatever you choose what you're getting is a high performance laptop that we really think is at the top of its class and really is the best 15 inch laptop that you can buy hey thanks for watching this review tell me what you think in the comments below about the XPS 15 are you interested in it you're gonna pick it up through the next laptop and if you like this review go ahead and subscribe and check out one of the videos over here and if you want to read the full review head over to digital calmnot everybody needs a laptop like the XPS 15 not everybody needs the six core processor the big 15-inch display or the discreet graphics card but maybe you're a video editor or maybe you're a programmer or a music producer and you need a laptop that can handle your workflow or maybe you're just somebody who wants to play games on their work laptop if that's you we really think the XPS 15 is the first laptop you should consider buying there's not much new here in terms of the design if you've seen any of Dells XPS laptops before you know you're getting a premium high quality build it's wrapped in aluminum on the top and bottom but has a black a soft touch carbon fiber on the inside the design is certainly less cutting edge than it was back in 2015 but it's still a look we really like and really this is a laptop that can blend into whatever environment you're in whether that's a coffee shop at home on the couch or in the office there's a whole lot of good stuff to say about this laptop but most of it is unchanged from last year's model has a great port selection offering a wide variety for both USBC and legacy accessories the keyboard and touchpad are also really high-quality providing a great typing swiping tapping and tracking experience there's still some of the best inputs you can find on a Windows laptop and battery life is excellent though you'll get less with the 4k version our 1080p model got us over 14 and a half hours and video playback in around 10 in general productivity all of that is excellent in top of the class and for $1,500 it's a pretty good value too but none of that is new this year what's really new are the upgraded components and performance which really pushed the XPS 15 to a new level of greatness the XPS 15 has a new 6 core core i7 processor from Intel which is the same one you'll find in a lot of thin and light gaming laptops like the Razer Blade and the performance here really is outstanding in fact the XPS 15 set our record for laptops encoding a four minute 4k movie trailer in just two and a half minutes and even though the XPS 15 is by no means a dedicated gaming laptop it just might be the best stealth gaming machine you can buy Dell has upgraded the GPU from a 1050 to a 1050 Ti this year and the performance upgrade you get from that really turns it into quite capable little gaming laptop everything from fortnight to Battlefield one play at a smooth fifty to sixty frames per second with settings maxed out even tougher stuff like Dave's ex are playable though you'll need to adjust the graphics settings a bit now it's definitely true that you will see some throttling with the XPS 15 you're not gonna see quite as good a performance as you would in something with a thicker chassis but that's really true of pretty much all thin and light laptops like this one whether you're talking about the MacBook Pro or the surface book - the XPS 15 isn't made solely for raw power it's a balance between performance design and portability and it's a balanced Dell handles really well we do however have two small complaints about the XPS 15 and the first is the placement of the webcam which is always going to be a gripe that people have with the XPS laptops it has been moved to the center at this time which helps but there's no getting around the fact that the placement below the screen is going to deter some people that rely on the webcam for a frequent video conferencing secondly in our testing we saw someone usually slow write speeds for the Toshiba and vme SSD that's included on the XPS 15 and that really shouldn't be happening it's been a problem reported with this specific SSD and other laptops as well so we're hoping it's something that Dell Microsoft and Toshiba can figure out because right now it's write speeds are as slow as an old spinning disk drive you can configure the XPS 15 up to the touch screen 4k model for an extra $400 which photographers and videographers would probably want for the added color accuracy resolution and color gamut however our review unit which started at $1500 came with a 256 gigabyte SSD 16 gigabytes of RAM and a 1080p display and I really think this is a good place to start for most people especially with the added benefit of the extra battery life you get either way whatever you choose what you're getting is a high performance laptop that we really think is at the top of its class and really is the best 15 inch laptop that you can buy hey thanks for watching this review tell me what you think in the comments below about the XPS 15 are you interested in it you're gonna pick it up through the next laptop and if you like this review go ahead and subscribe and check out one of the videos over here and if you want to read the full review head over to digital calm\n"